Syllabus for Roster(s):
- 22F ANTH 3590-001 (CGAS)
Syllabus ANTH3590
Topics on the Anthropology of Tourism (ANTH3590)
Course Details
Course Number: ANTH3590
Course Location: New Cabell Hall 489
Course Meeting Time(s): Tue, Thu 3:30pm-4:45pm
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor Information
Instructor: Dr. Ernesto Benitez
Office: 303 Brooks Hall
Office Hours: Tue, Thu 2pm-3pm and by appointment.
Email: tcr7kb@virginia.edu
Course Description
Until the 1970s, tourism was not really considered a legitimate subject of enquiry in Anthropology and few scholars paid much attention to the close relationship between tourism and larger patterns of circulation of power, ideas, capital, and bodies. Today, the Anthropology of Tourism possesses a well-established body of literature that looks critically at the tourism industry and the relationships, imaginaries, and inequalities it produces and perpetuates. This course will examine anthropological perspectives on tourism practices and imaginaries, with special attention to Global South destinations. We will analyze how tourism imaginaries have come to shape our perceptions of different landscapes and peoples, and how these imaginaries also shape our understadings of seemingly unrelated concepts such as race, gender, and sexuality. Furthermore, we will discuss how service-based work in tourism shapes how local and Indigenous communities reimagine their identities to accommodate outside expectations and how they may deploy those identities to contest class and racial dynamics at the local level.
Course Learning Objectives
By the end of the course, you will...
- Be familiar with the main concepts and theoretical approaches to the study of tourism in anthropology.
- Gain awareness about how global inequalities get reproduced during the tourism encounter.
- Critically reflect on the impact of tourism development for local communities in the Global South.
- Critically reflect on the ways in which certain stereotypes about Indigenous peoples are perpetuated in Western discourse and how they shape tourism imaginaries in Indigenous communities.
- Critically reflect on the proposition that ecotourism or small-scale tourism projects in Indigenous and local communities can be effective alternatives to extractivist industries and promote sustainable development.
Assessments
Final Presentation
You will do 5-minute in-class presentations of your final research paper during finals week. The objective of this assignment is for you to share your work with and receive feedback from your peers.
Value: 5%
Final Research Paper
You will write a final research paper on any topic or issue related to Tourism Studies from an ethnographic perspective. The paper should be between 10 and 12 double-spaced pages in length, and it must be informed by a thorough literature review. This will allow you to explore your own interests and questions concerning anthropological approaches to the study of tourism. You must submit a one-paragraph topic proposal by a date to be set by me.
Value: 25%
Mid-term paper
The mid-term paper will offer an opportunity to produce an annotated bibliography and a detailed outline for the final research paper. I will provide individualized, in-depth feedback on this assignment, which will be helpful as you develop your ideas and arguments into a research paper.
Value: 20%
Participation
One of the two weekly class sessions will be devoted to group-based discussion and analysis of the material covered that week. The overall participation grade will be based on these group-based assignments, and you will be evaluated not on the "correctness" of your answers, but on your effort to critically and creatively engage with course material and the quality of your analysis. You will be evaluated on your contribution to your group in various, equally valuable ways, such as note-taking, in-group discussion, oral presentation, etc.
Value: 30%
Quizzes
There will be weekly, open-book quizzes which will assess your comprehension of course material. Each quiz will consist of 10 questions, evenly split between multiple choice and short essay questions. This will assess your ability to identify core concepts and themes from the readings, but also your ability to think about the broader implications of those concepts and themes in relation to the overall goals and objectives of the course. Quizzes will be available on our Collab site.
Value: 20%
Course Calendar
Date | Topics | Readings and Activities | Assignments |
What is this course about? | |||
Aug 23, 2022 | Syllabus Overview | No readings required | |
Aug 25, 2022 | Unit 1: Introduction to the anthropology of tourism |
| |
Aug 30, 2022 | Tourism and Development |
| Readings available on Week 2 tab |
Sept 1, 2022 | Group-based discussion | Participation | |
Sept 6, 2022 | Tourism and the Environment |
| Readings available on Week 3 tab |
Sept 8, 2022 | Group-based discussion |
| Participation |
Sept 13, 2022 | Tourism and the Environment (Cont.) |
| Quiz #1 due on September 12 at 11:59pm Readings available on Week 4 tab |
Sept 15, 2022 | Group-based discussion | Participation | |
Sept 20, 2022 | Tourism and Culture |
| Quiz # 2 on September 19 at 11:59pm Readings available on Week 5 tab |
Sept 22, 2022 | Group-based discussion | -Film Cannibal Tours (Part 1) | Participation |
Sept 27, 2022 | Tourism and Culture (Cont.) |
| Quiz # 3 due on September 26 at 11:59pm
Readings available on Week 6 tab |
Sept 29, 2022 | Group-based discussion | -Film Cannibal Tours (Part 2) | Participation |
Oct 4, 2022 | No class. Fall reading day. | No class | No class |
Oct 6, 2022 | Tourism and Culture (Cont.) |
| Readings available on Week 7 tab |
Oct 11, 2022 | Tourism and Culture (Cont.) |
| Quiz # 4 due on October 10 at 11:59pm
Readings available on Week 8 tab |
Oct 13, 2022 | Group-based discussion | Film “Cashing in on Culture” | Participation |
Oct 18, 2022 | Pilgrimage and Heritage Tourism |
| Midterm Exam due on October 17 at 11:59pm
Readings available on Week 9 tab |
Oct 20, 2022 | Group-based discussion | Participation | |
Oct 25, 2022 | Sex Tourism |
| Quiz # 5 due on October 24 at 11:59pm
Readings available on Week 10 tab |
Oct 27, 2022 | Group-based discussion | Participation | |
Nov 1, 2022 | Sex Tourism (Cont.) |
| Quiz # 6 due on October 31 at 11:59pm Readings available on Week 11 tab |
Nov 3, 2022 | Group-based discussion |
| Participation |
Nov 8, 2022 | Sex Tourism (Cont.) |
| Quiz # 7 due on November 7 at 11:59pm Readings available on Week 12 tab |
Nov 10, 2022 | Group-based discussion |
| Participation |
Nov 15, 2022 | Medical Tourism |
| Quiz # 8 due on November 14 at 11:59pm Readings available on Week 13 tab |
Nov 17, 2022 | Group-based discussion | Participation | |
Nov 22, 2022 | Dark Tourism |
| Quiz #9 due on November 21 at 11:59pm Readings available on Week 14 tab |
Nov 24, 2022 | No class. | Thanksgiving recess |
|
Nov 29, 2022 | Final Presentations | Quiz #10 due on November 28 at 11:59pm | |
Dec 1, 2022 | Final Presentations |
|
|
Dec 6,2022 | Final Presentations |
|
|
Grading Scheme
Weekly quizzes: 20%
Participation (30%)
Mid-term paper (20%)
Final Research Paper (25%)
Final Presentation (5%)
Grading Scale:
95-100: A+
90-95: A
85-89: B+
80-85: B
75-79:C+
70-75:C
65-69:D+
60-65:D
>60: F
Required materials
Nearly all course materials will be available on our Collab site. Additionally, we will be using the following textbook:
- Chambers, Erve. 2020. Native tours: The anthropology of travel and tourism (3rd ed.). Waveland Press, Inc.
Attendance Policy
Attendance is directly related to your participation grade, since the course has a strong team-based learning component. However, we will continue to abide by UVA policies regarding COVID-19, which can be found at https://coronavirus.virginia.edu/.
Late Work Policy
I will accept one request for a deadline extension during the semester which will not impact your grade. This does NOT include the deadline for your final research paper. Any additional requests will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
Honor/Academic Integrity Policy
In general, plagiarism is defined as taking credit for someone else’s work. I have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to plagiarism. You will receive an automatic F for a plagiarized assignment, and you will be referred to the Honor Committee for disciplinary action. Do NOT plagiarize; if you have problems completing an assignment, or if you cannot meet the deadline, come talk to me. Please visit https://honor.virginia.edu/plagiarism-supplement to learn more about the Honor Code at UVA.
Accessibility
Please visit https://studenthealth.virginia.edu/sdac to learn about UVA policies and resources for students with disabilities, and to request accommodations.